


First Try At Being An Action Lead

by deeper_happier



Series: So This Island Came With A Free Snake [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Altered Mental States, Anal Sex, Bondage, Conditioning, Cuckolding, Hypnosis, M/M, Married Couple, Mind Control, Naga, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Surprise! It's a snake, Treks through the forest, With SNAKE TAIL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 20:22:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14362932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deeper_happier/pseuds/deeper_happier
Summary: Jake spends an afternoon exploring his and Dirk's new deserted island home and learns it's not so deserted. Maybe the voice in the jungle is friendly!(It's friendly alright. Very friendly.)Prequel to Warm Hellmurder Welcomes but read it second, okay?





	First Try At Being An Action Lead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ImaginedAdventurer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginedAdventurer/gifts).



> This work is being hosted for an anonymous author.
> 
> ImaginedAdventurer, the artist who inspired the first work, commissioned about 46% of this story. The rest is just the author's self-indulgence.

The breeze off the island’s inlet tugged at Jake’s hair. Even with his glasses protecting his eyes, the wind made them water. It felt invigorating, to stand on this little ride overlooking the lagoon and know, _this is home_. This is the place in the world where he always returned to hang his Berettas and rest.

He and Dirk had gone round and round about all of the benefits and drawbacks of moving to such a remote location, and now that he stood and surveyed their slice of paradise, Jake felt a swell of validation for the choice. They had their boat, and the compounds for living and working, and a whole fucking volcano to explore…

Well, and a lot of work to do. Dirk lined it all up in a neat and tidy to-do list, his noggin’s processor logging and sorting it all by priority. And Jake would get around to it. He liked engaging projects, same as the next self-possessed gent, but Dirk didn’t find hikes as engaging as Jake did. And that was fine, to have differences like that! Dirk knew that Jake liked solitude and exploring and the chance to decompress. Jake knew Dirk liked attention and praise for his cleverness. Even being in no rush to leave the sun and the breeze, Jake was looking forward to coming home and letting Dirk tell him all about his whip-smart improvements to their home, and then kissing his face all over.

Jake took a deep breath through his nose. He almost felt like he could take steps forward off this ridge and just float in the air, suspended by optimism and joy alone. His love story with Dirk had so many hurdles, but after years of trying again and again, this had to be the happy ending. He wished he could send a letter back to his younger self to reassure him that everything would work out and someday, he’d be honeymooning with Dirk in the South Pacific.

Well, no he wouldn’t. Jake had seen Timecop. He’d probably liquefy both his past and present self by trying to occupy the same space. So many practical lessons from amazing movies.

Let’s see, Jake had a few more hours to kill before dinner. But where to? The dense jungle made carving paths difficult, but improving their map had been on Dirk’s list, and Jake could get an observational head start on that by blazing a trail or two of his own. And he’d have a much easier time convincing Dirk to explore if he could find the ‘tutorial’ paths. He pulled a pair of binoculars out of his pack and surveyed the island, trying to decide on a direction to go.

“What are those?”

Jake nearly drops the binoculars. “Who—Huh?! Who said that?!”

“Your friendly neighborhood disembodied voice. Just curious, what are you doing with those black tubes?”

His heart hammering, Jake looked around the ridge. No way could the voice _actually_ be disembodied—at least, not without a good reason—so there had to be someone nearby. He and Dirk were supposed to be alone on the island. “Where are you?” he asked the air, hoping for a clue.

“Around,” the voice replied. And then it stopped talking. That wouldn’t do, Jake couldn’t find out where it was coming from if it went quiet.

“Okay… um, who are you, then?”

“It seems you want me to keep talking so you can pinpoint my location,” the voice said. “While I want to commend you for excellent intuition, I’d also like to ask you to cut it the fuck out. You’re the interloper here, and I’m definitely more scared of you then you could be of me.”

The voice didn’t sound scared. It sounded smooth, precise, and intelligent. He supposed that tone might change if Jake sought its owner out. Maybe Jake could entertain the voice’s whims for a minute.

“Sorry about that,” Jake said. “I’m at a loss for what I could do to earn your trust in this endeavor, but I think you can see it from my side, too. I thought my husband and I were alone on this island, and here I am talking to some wisp of the jungle!”

“What’s a husband?”

“Oh—so when two people love each other terribly much and want to stay together for the rest of their lives and also reap a few tax breaks on the side, people get married, and the men get called husbands while the women are wives.”

“So the other one is your husband.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Fascinating.”

“Quite,” Jake said. The more words he exchanged with this mysteriously concealed person, the less surprised and more silly he felt. “Hang on, a little earlier, you said I’m the ‘interloper.’ Are you an inhabitant of this island?”

“Correct.”

“But that’s impossible, it’s been uninhabited for decades.”

“Or they just missed me when they did the population count.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough that I call it home.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair. Codswalloping Christ, and just fifteen minutes ago, he had been daydreaming about his own beautiful home on the island. He hadn’t thought he’d be disrupting an existing occupant by moving in.

The voice continued. “What’s your name?”

“Oh—that’s Jake, Jake English.” Something about learning that Jake’s presence on the island was stepping on toes made him feel compelled to be extra personable. “What should I call you?”

“Hal.”

“…Just Hal? Do you have a surname?”

“I have one name, and it’s Hal.”

“Curious,” Jake said. “I suppose, since we know one another’s names now, would you be willing to come out and speak to me?”

“Not yet, Jake English,” Hal responded. “There’s a lot I can’t account for yet, about your presence here and what it means for me. I don’t want my appearance to sway your opinion.”

His _appearance_. “I promise, we aren’t the sorts to judge someone on their appearance! Like if you think we’ll invoke some silly old prejudices against you, I can assure you we won’t. Oh, unless you mean that you’re in a self-imposed exile because of a horrible disfigurement and now you think you’re some kind of tragic monster? Or what if you’re a monster proper, like the Creature from the Black Lagoon! That’d be amazing!”

“Let’s go with an ‘all of the above,’” Hal answered. “But the lagoon here isn’t black. It’s a pretty idyllic shade of teal down there.”

“You’ve got that right,” Jake agreed. But now that he brought it up, he couldn’t get it out of his head that Hal might be something mysterious, impossible, and miraculous.

He knew what Dirk would do—frankly, what Dirk would want Jake to do, too. Immediately abscond from the conversation, take a hard-to-trace path back home, barricade for protection, signal for backup. Jake had sat through enough horror movies with Dirk lambasting the poor decision making skills of the leads to understand that Dirk well and truly did not take risks with this sort of thing. And while Hal could be a small monster, the odds were just as good that he could be enormous, with fangs and claws and strength beyond a human’s.

But Jake wasn’t Dirk. He prided himself on that fact, honestly. And what Dirk didn’t understand about the faulty logic of horror movie heroes is that sometimes, the stupid choice was the one that uncovered more of the mystery, and eventually led the heroes to their triumph!

“Well, mister Hal,” Jake said. “I have a few more hours before I’m expected home for dinner, and I had been hoping to spend those exploring this terra incognita. But I’d also like to continue this conversation. What would you say if I walked around a little bit, just seeing what I can see, at a slow enough pace to let you mask yourself?”

“That’s a fascinating proposal… though I know you could try and seek me out anyway, I feel like I trust you. Let’s do this.”

Jake tugged his pack back onto his shoulders, fussing excessively with the straps to give Hal the chance to conceal himself before Jake made his way into the underbrush. Now this was uniquely exciting! Kind of like those action movies where the hero had a communicator and spoke to a teammate in a distant tech lab, or in a helicopter providing air support! Jake wondered if Hal was a flying monster. And if he could be persuaded to take passengers.

“If you live here, have you always lived here?” Jake started up the conversation again.

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to know if you’ve ever had the chance to see a movie. That’s what I meant about the Black Lagoon earlier, there’s an old classic about a Creature from it.”

“I’ve heard of movies, never seen one.”

He might have the chance to show Hal _movies_! Like all the movies about youths making friends with monsters said! But Jake stayed on track, knowing that Hal’s admission tipped more of his hand about his life on the island.

“Did you hear about movies from back when other people lived here?”

“Essentially. And I have some old radio receiver equipment. Sometimes the signals talk about new movies.”

“So you’re the reason some of the radio bits are missing. Mind returning those to us? We could make it worth your while.”

“Or, you could repair the missing pieces with new supplies, I’ll keep my stuff, and everyone will have what they want.”

“You bandit,” Jake accused, but he kept some laughter in his voice so Hal could tell he was kidding.

The deep green of the jungle surrounded him now, and it was honestly hard to see more than a few yards ahead of him. He picked up a sturdy stick for pushing foliage aside. He had a machete sheathed in his pack, but to nurture the budding trust between himself and Hal, Jake kept it packed up. If he needed to protect himself, he’d use the pistols strapped to his thighs.

“It was abandoned, dude. I didn’t know you and Husband were going to show up and need any of it.”

“His name isn’t ‘husband,’ it’s Dirk!”

“Dirk. Cool,” Hal said, pausing like he was trying to commit the name to memory. “Now what are Dirk and Jake up to on this island?”

“We actually had the same idea you did, that it would be an excellent place to live. We do a lot of work with technological doodads, so we liked the idea of a private lab space, and just… a little corner of the world where we would just be together.”

Hal didn’t say anything for a minute. Jake wished he knew what he was thinking about the concept of having neighbors.

“I know our arrival is sudden, and it’s rather rude we made that choice without consulting you, but… we didn’t know you were here in the first place,” Jake continued explaining. “And either way, I’m optimistic we’ll get along swell as friends and neighbors! I know the value of alone time, so we can surely accommodate if there are places on the island you want to keep to yourself!”

“I’ll have to think on that,” Hal said at last. “And I suppose it will be nice to have some new friends to play with.”

“That’s the spirit!” Jake agreed, pushing through another rough patch of jungle. The idea was to get up to a half-path on the side of the volcano, and then take straight across, until he could drop back down toward his home. Some annoyance at Dirk’s paranoid instinct flared up, because if Hal was truly a murderous beast, of _course_ he would look for humans in the only remotely habitable human settlement.

But as Jake’s boots made contact with the path, he saw a thick, red-scaled tail draped along the upper branches of a tree. He froze for an instant, tracing its path back and forth with his eyes to identify the python’s head, but he couldn’t find its beginning. Well. The protocol for run-ins with dangerous wildlife (Hal excluded from that list, since he could talk) was to ignore it and let it go about its day. Jake decided that protocol was worth following and side-stepped along the path until the tail seemed to swerve deeper into the foliage.

“Something the matter, Jake?” Hal asked.

“What? No, just a tad startled by some local fauna. But hey, we knew to expect that, too. If Dirk and I can live in harmony with everything else on this island, I’m sure we’ll get along with you just swimmingly!”

“Again, there’s something about your confidence that makes it excessively difficult to not trust you,” Hal reported. “I think I can understand why Dirk agreed to husband you.”

“Marry,” Jake corrected. “He married me. But you’ll get it! And once you actually get to meet Dirk, I think you’ll understand why I married him, too.”

“What’s he like? Dirk?”

“An oddball, but then again, so am I, so that’s all right as rain. He’s tack-sharp in general and especially mechanically savvy. Excellent with words too, if you haven’t seen any movies you might not have heard any rap either—rap is this form of music where the singer talks all the rhymes, sometimes improvised! He studies pop culture like a historian too, like he wants to understand something about humanity from it. Sometimes that makes him a hipster snob about the media he considers ‘good,’ but he’s learned a lot about respecting other people’s tastes since when I first met him.”

Hal seemed to grunt.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that?” Jake asked, honestly not sure if their open-air conversation had caused him to miss something Hal said.

“No, it’s nothing. Except, that’s just a conversation filler designed to downplay an emotional response I’m having to something.”

“…I don’t think I caught that either, what are you talking about?”

“I’ll be honest about something. I have been watching you and Dirk for a while now, and I’ve gleaned some small clues about your personalities. My current assessment about the kind of person Dirk is gives me concern that we won’t get along, and your description confirmed it.”

An instinct to defend his husband’s honor rose up in Jake. “And what gives you that idea?”

“There’s a strong possibility that we are too similar to each other to be friends.”

“Oh, fuck to that! If anything, you and Dirk will have more to bond over, with similar interests and all. That’s another thing I promise to you, that shit won’t get in the way of your friendship!”

He heard Hal snort. “I admire your conviction, Jake.”

Jake had more to say, centering on all the good things about Dirk he might have misrepresented in that first introduction, but he caught sight of another tree supporting great coils of red snake. He paused and stared at it a little harder, more intrigued. He and Dirk hadn’t found any gigantic ruby pythons when making their initial review of the island, and if it turned out they were rare creatures, the chances of seeing two of them on the path within ten minutes pushed the limits of his already considerable ability to believe in long odds.

“Jake?”

“Sorry! Saw some—kind of rudely-shaped plant. Had myself a little chuckle. Now, let’s get off the subject of depressing things, I’m still stunned you’ve _never_ seen a movie…”

So Jake started chatting about the silver screen and one of his favorite entries, the masterpiece _Avatar_ , while he scanned the treetops for more loops of red-scaled tail. Now that he was looking for it, he couldn’t stop finding it, and it was always in motion, slithering around the trees in the direction Jake was going. He could even finally pick out the sound of scales dragging over bark and foliage from the general noise of the jungle. The tail had a subtle pattern to it that reminded him of what the Fibonacci sequence looked like overlaid on nautilus shells, which made it hard to prove for certain that this tail was a _single_ tail instead of just multiple specimens of the same species.

But then he had a breakthrough in the case, identifying a single patch where the sequence hiccupped, discolored, like a birthmark. Jake noticed it, and then found the exact same patch in two other sightings of the tail. This tail was all part of one singular snake.

_Is Hal a serpent?_

He couldn’t deny that his first reaction was apprehensive. Maybe Jake’s bluster before about accepting Hal no matter what had been a little hasty? Those coils looked powerful, and since Jake didn’t know how close to Hal’s head they were, he had no idea if they got thicker or stronger. He might be in trouble beyond the might of any Beretta.

But the more he followed Hal’s tail, the more the feeling started to fade. This had been Hal’s strategy from the start, he had admitted as much, that he wanted Jake to get to know him before revealing his form. Based on their conversation so far, Jake had a feeling Hal was a good man (um, person? Sentient entity?) who wanted to be friends.

Jake had nearly made it to the turn-off point for home, but he decided to stop for a minute. He dropped his pack on the ground, drank some water, and adjusted his bootlaces, while he decided how to broach the subject.

“Hal, this has been a splendid chat we’ve had together, on all counts. I think I’d very much like to speak to you again. But there’s something I’d like to confirm first.”

“What is it?”

“Through my journey to home, I’ve been spotting these coils of snake tail high in the trees. The same snake tail, following along my path. I won’t seek you out if you’re not yet comfortable with it, but by any chance, are you a gigantic snake?”

Hal paused for a moment, before he asked, “Does that change anything?”

“Not at all! Maybe you’re a snake monster, but you’re also a witty fellow that I’d be happy to call a friend. I’m not scared of you.”

Jake could see a glimpse of the tail again, shifting around the branches, and when Hal spoke again, he sounded a little louder. “Do you mean that?”

“You have my word!”

The loops continued flowing like film through spools. At the other side of the clearing, Jake saw a decidedly human torso emerge from the underbrush, naked and freckled—or no, those weren’t freckles, those were more scales, dotting along his shoulders and arms. And then the torso pushed through the foliage and Jake saw no legs at all, just a blended seam where the man’s hips transformed into a long and powerful snake tail.

“Gadzooks,” spilled out of Jake’s mouth before he could stop it. The man—snake?—smiled.

“I thought you weren’t going to be afraid?” he asked, with Hal’s voice. Yep, this had been him the whole time.

“That’s hardly an exclamation of fear,” Jake corrected, taking in more of Hal’s shape. The tail continued to slither around behind him, even though the torso stayed still. Then Jake’s eyes traced up Hal’s humanoid body, feeling a little bit like a cad ogling the fine lady who just entered the room, as he examined Hal’s hips, stomach, chest, neck, shock of pale hair, and his eyes, magnificent ruby eyes that practically seemed to twinkle and ripple. They were _gorgeous_.

“You’re staring at me,” Hal said, a little petulantly.

“I don’t mean to—I’ve just never seen anything like you before!” Jake flicked his gaze about to discover more details about Hal, but his eyes definitely kept drifting back to Hal’s face. “What do they even call you?”

“I told you, it’s Hal.” The pout turned into a smile.

“No, I mean, snake-men.”

“As the explorer responsible for my discovery, wouldn’t you rather name my species yourself? _Serpenticus Englishia_?”

“No, I think that’s a mite rude, to name a creature who can speak and reason,” Jake said back. “Plus, I… I really have a feeling there’s already a name for you. Your kind.”

“That is true. The mythological creature that you are looking for is the naga.”

“ _N_ _aga_ ,” Jake repeated back. Oh, sweet fucking sugarpies, naga were real! Monsters were real! And Jake was talking to one! This was the sort of adventure he thought he had outgrown, all the childish hope drilled out of him by adulthood, but here he was! Hal! Proof of more in heaven and earth than had been dreamt of in the philosophies of a thousand boring stuffy scientists more concerned with practical than possible!

“You’re kind of leering at me,” Hal said, tilting his head a little bit.

Jake almost felt like he should tilt his head too, but he shook it instead. In the last few minutes, he was really starting to get light-headed, but that had to be due to the shock of Hal’s discovery. “Ah, sorry! I don’t mean to!”

“It doesn’t matter to me, but I wonder if Husband Dirk would be okay with you staring at me like something you wanted to mate with.”

“Huh?!” Jake felt his eyebrows jump into his hairline. “Oh, no! No, I’m not—that is, that’s not of interest to me.”

“I’m not offended, Jake. And I definitely don’t mind if you keep looking at me, given this is your first encounter with a naga. But I don’t want to cause any problems for you.”

Hal’s permission to keep looking eased Jake’s nerves a little. Right, he should be doing this for science, taking a look at all the bits of Hal he could to be drawn and labeled later, but his gaze just slid right back onto Hal’s vivid, sparkling eyes. “Sorry… you’ve definitely got the body of a fairly attractive man blended with that tail of yours, but please take that as an… academic compliment.”

“Thank you for the flattery and the explanation,” Hal said smoothly. Out of the corner of Jake’s eye, he could see Hal’s tail begin to undulate, letting his top half draw closer to Jake. “In the interest of further education, do you have questions about naga? Maybe I can educate you in turn.”

Oh god, where would Jake even start with that? The first question that came to mind centered on Hal’s stunning eyes, but Jake figured he didn’t want to dig that hole any deeper just yet. “Um, are you warm or cold-blooded?”

“Cold. Luckily for me, this island is sunny.”

“Where do you live?”

“Some cave.”

“Oh…” Jake noticed the dodge, but didn’t feel like pushing the issue. He didn’t like being pushy. It made people upset, so when Jake already knew he felt fine, he didn’t have to push anything. “Uh… how long have you been here?”

“A while.” Hal seemed even closer now, with more of that rippling in his eyes filling Jake’s vision. “Or are you asking how old I am?”

“…I think so?”

“How old are _you_?”

“Twenty-seven,” Jake said. Hal was so close now.

“That’s an adult for humans, right? I’m an adult too, and that’s all we need to be to each other.”

Claw tips traced down Jake’s neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake. He gasped, but didn’t flinch. That felt… _incredible._ “Hal, I…”

“What is it?”

“I’m… dizzy,” Jake admitted. “I don’t know… what brought this on, I should… get home…”

Hal’s head tilted, and Jake’s followed the movement, like a phantom had nudged his cheek. “I can take care of you here.”

“No, I don’t want to… bother you…”

“Please, let me bother,” Hal enticed. “You’ve been so kind to me, Jake. Curious about me, confident about me. I want to be around you. I want to help you through this.”

As he spoke, Hal’s hands—they had to be Hal’s hands—touched Jake again, lightly grazing the other side of his neck, and then threading through the hairs at the base of his skull, behind his ears, up to the crown of his head. Then Hal seemed to drift to the side, and Jake’s boots shuffled in the dirt to turn and keep facing him. Why was Hal moving so much? What was he trying to do?

As he tried to track Hal’s movement, Jake realized he knew this scenario. It was the one Dirk disparaged all those movie characters for falling into. The one Jake always thought himself better-than; above. The one Jake had fantasized about after films of exploration and first contact that infused the hunter-and-hunted relationship with addicting levels of sexual tension. Now here he stood, in the clutches of a naga, unsure which way the script would go: with Jake walking free, or becoming the monster’s meal?

“I… can’t,” Jake managed to whisper. “Dirk…”

“Can’t what?”

The claws were so gentle, like razors capable of caress. Jake’s heart hammered and a lot of that blood was flowing to his shorts, not his head. “…Dirk—”

“Is this just something I don’t understand about human marriage? That you aren’t capable of acting as your own person after some ritual is complete?” Hal sounded rougher now, less pleased. “I want to focus on you, in the now. I got you. You’re safe.”

Was he? Jake tried swallowing, tried taking a step back, tried looking away, but only two of those actions succeeded. His Adam’s apple bobbed under Hal’s claws, a ticklish and tantalizing sensation, and when he took a step back, he found the tip of Hal’s tail standing at attention behind him, pressing into his back and then starting to wrap around to his chest.

“Listen to me,” Hal told him, and his voice rang clear against the jungle noise. “Nothing I want from you is a threat to your safety. I want you safe and happy. I’m a friend, Jake. I thought you believed that we would be great friends.”

Jake… believed that. Yes. He believed that this place was his home. This island was paradise. And as Hal’s tail encircled him, Jake let the thought come full circle: _Hal is my friend._

“Just like that, Jake. Just relax. I’ll take care of the rest. You can be as dizzy as you want and I’ll take care of you.”

_Take care of you, protect and provide—_

“—Dirk!” His name barely escaped Jake’s mouth in a puff. Dirk took care of him and Jake cared for Dirk and that was the deal, that was their vow, _that was their happy ending—_

“I think I know this emotion,” Hal told Jake. “I’m feeling displeasure. I’m displeased, Jake.”

Jake felt his eyebrows knit together. Oh, he didn’t want Hal to be displeased, but he didn’t want to forget Dirk either! How was he supposed to make everyone happy?

“We should take a step back.” Decisively, Hal pulled the tail wrapped around Jake’s torso backwards. Before he could even fall, more coils caught him, like a chair mixed with a hammock. “Shall we play a game? And one it’s over, I’ll let you go.”

Still a pinch disoriented, Jake couldn’t tell if Hal’s change of mind counted as a progress. Jake needed to leave and have a lie-down. Nothing against Hal! He just couldn’t focus like this, with his head so cloudy and his gaze locked on Hal’s eyes like a magnet. All his attempts at a polite exit had failed, and he had no idea how successful he’d be at playing this game.

“Yes, I think a game like this is going to make you less dizzy. I call it counting. To play, I say a number, and you say the one after it. You win when you hit zero. Are you ready?”

“Huwh?”

Hal just tapped the tip of Jake’s nose. “One hundred.”

Counting sounded… easy. “Nnnty-nin.”

“Simple rules doesn’t excuse laziness. Come on, Jake. You’ll feel better if you do it right.”

“…Ninety-nine.”

“Very good. Ninety-eight.”

“Ninety-six.”

“Good! Ninety-five.”

And the counting game continued, Jake obediently listing the next number down from Hal’s every time he heard Hal say a number. The naga added a few syllables worth of compliment before continuing too, calling Jake good or clever or perfect. And as the numbers continued down into the eighties, into the seventies, Hal started to call Jake warm and happy and empty. The sling of tail beneath him rocked, gentle as a cradle, and the coil around his chest slithered further until he had two loops around his chest. He could lean into Hal’s coils with total comfort and honestly _relax_.

“You’re beautiful like this. Fifty-four.”

“Fifty-three.”

“Not a care in the world, fifty-two.”

“Fifty-one.”

“Nearly halfway, fifty-two.”

“Fifty-one.”

“So good, Jake. Fifty-two.”

“Fifty-one.”

“Living in the moment, fifty-two.”

“Fifty-one.”

“So happy here, so warm. Fifty-two.”

“Fifty-one.”

“Sink deeper for me, Jake. Sixty.”

“Fifty-nine.”

“Sleepy. Peaceful. Sixty-six.”

“Sixty-five.”

“Not a clue what’s happening. Seventy.”

“Sixty-nine.”

“Nice. Obeying me completely. One hundred.”

“Ninety-nine…”

Jake supposed this was what an aquarium fish felt like. Suspended weightlessly in water, enough motion to know they were alive and conscious, but slow, unworried, drifting. His lips and tongue moved on reflex to follow Hal’s orders and play his game. Even when he leapt around the number line, Jake took no notice, following the naga’s whims.

“Good boy, Jake. A blank and beautiful boy. Twenty.”

“Nineteen.”

“So very sleepy, sleepy and safe. Eighteen.”

“Seventeen.”

“You’re asleep right now aren’t you? Sixteen.”

“Fifteen.”

“You can entrust your dreaming brain to me. Fourteen.”

“Thirteen.”

“I’ll take very good care of it. Twelve.”

“Eleven.”

Hal paused. He reached out to cup Jake’s cheeks. The human’s neck had absolutely no energy in it, and Hal easily lifted and tilted him. His eyes still followed Hal’s, but he couldn’t muster the effort to stay locked like before.

“You’re almost there, Jake. So I want to let you know what’s going to happen when you hit one. Once you say the number one, you will be ready to do anything I tell you to. You’ll stay completely in the moment, forgetting your past memories and future dreams. So, now that you understand that… ten.”       

It all sank into Jake’s head as truth, smooth as honey, and he spoke his number without hesitation. “Nine.”

“Empty. Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Happy. Six.”

“Five.”

“Pleasured. Four.”

“Three.”

“Entranced. Two.”

“One.”

“Mine. Zero.”

Wind rustled the jungle canopy. Birds flitted about and chirped at each other. A distant brook flowed down the side of the volcano to feed a little stream, and then the lagoon. And Jake existed in the midst of it, letting it all pass through his awareness.

“…Holy shit.” Hal whispered. “Holy shit, look at… look at you.”

He couldn’t, so he didn’t. Fussing about impossible orders stayed beyond his reach too.

“I didn’t know it’d… Well, no, I knew it would work. I just didn’t know it’d be this _perfect_. You’re so pretty right now, Jake.”

Jake felt pretty. This blend of placid, peaceful, and pleasurable feelings amounted to a very pretty feeling indeed. Hal leaned closer to him, slowly, until the enchanting red eyes dipped out of Jake’s field of vision. He didn’t even flinch. Even though he had been staring at them for so long, Jake’s eyes weren’t truly ‘seeing’ things anymore. Hal’s trance had evolved and Jake couldn’t imagine being roused by anything but Hal himself.

A thin tongue brushed against Jake’s neck, soft and fluttery. Hal was tasting him. Or just smelling him very up close? Jake didn’t know. Then Hal’s teeth followed, two long fangs scraping on a vulnerable pulse point. That made Jake twitch and squirm in Hal’s coils.

“I felt that, Jake. Why are you trying to move?”

“Fuuh… feels good,” Jake let the words fall out of him in a gasp.

“Fascinating. I noticed you reacted intensely when I was touching you with my claws earlier. Do you like pain, or just danger?”

Jake knew that answer. “Danger,” he mumbled. The deep relaxation of Hal’s counting game and all the suggestions that came with it cooled him a little, but Jake’s body hadn’t forgotten the thrill of the villainous beast preparing to ravish him. What he had forgotten was why such a scenario was a bad idea.

Hal hissed with laughter against Jake’s skin, following with another drag of his teeth on his neck. Then Hal’s hands slipped over Jake’s knees and up his thighs, reaching the hem of his tiny shorts. They pulled back with a slight yet threatening scratch. Jake whimpered.

“I’m here to pleasure you, Jake. Don’t forget that. You’re here to pleasure me back.”

Pleasure Hal back… Jake had no idea how he was supposed to do that, solid ropes of snake-tail kept his arms pinned to his sides, and he couldn’t muster the strength to stand if he tried. What was he supposed to do?

“I can feel you trying to get traction up there,” Hal whispered to him. “A futile effort, and you know it. Let me give you the answer, Jake. Your reactions, your noises, your body, I want those. And I’m going to get them whether you consciously try to give them to me or not. You have nothing to worry about. If you relax, you’ll give me what I want.”

Jake’s mouth moved again, like he wanted to thank Hal for the clarification, or maybe for permission to feel without thinking, but only some vague babbling came out.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. Keep that kind of shit up.”

On that, Hal’s tail started to shift and twist around Jake, leaning him much further back and supporting his hips. Hal let one leg hang and stretched the other one up, dragging his talons along his inner thigh like knives dancing on his skin. On top of all that, the new loops and coils put a stretch of tail between Jake’s legs, where the crotch of his shorts rubbed harder on his dick. Jake couldn’t stop his panting from turning into moaning, making Hal laugh.

“Now that’s the stuff. You’re pretty riled up now, aren’t you, Jake?”

“Hhyyeehh…”

“You would really scream for me if I could get you out of these shorts, wouldn’t you?”

“Pleeease,” Jake managed enough focus to make that word clear. Hal was in control, so Jake had to be clear with his begging.

“I read you loud and clear. Stay relaxed for me, Jake.”

Jake tried to relax, but the only parts of him carrying any tension were his hips and cock, and all of that just felt too good to qualify as stress. Still, Jake obediently tried.

Hal rotated Jake in his coils again, this time returning him to an approximate standing position. If he had to support his own weight, Jake would have crumbled to his knees instantly, but Hal held him securely around the chest. Then some more tail looped itself around Jake’s calf, lifting his leg parallel to the ground. The stretch burned pleasantly as Hal took the opportunity to unlace Jake’s boot and remove it. When he rolled down Jake’s sock, the claws continued their threatening scratch, lighting Jake’s nerves on fire. The treatment repeated on the other boot, and his toes curled and shivered at their new exposure to the air.

“Now for this contraption…” Hal’s fingers traced higher, attacking the straps and buckles of Jake’s holsters. For that part, Hal took quite some time, and if Jake had any attention span left for anything other than orders or praise, he might have noticed Hal swearing at the apparatus.

When the leather finally loosened, Hal squeezed Jake’s body hard enough to startle. In a moment, they had eye contact again, Hal’s rippling gemstone eyes _blazing_ with indignation.

“New orders, going forward. If you feel you’re in a situation where you need to bring your guns with you, choose any holding device _except the thigh straps_. While you’re on this island, you will never want to wear the thigh straps. Understood?”

“Yeeessir,” Jake agreed. Anything Hal wanted.

“Thank fuck. I do not want to have this be a fucking production every time…”

Hal’s grumbling ceased as he touched the fly of Jake’s shorts. He bucked toward the sensation, rewarded with some firm and satisfying rubs before Hal withdraw to remove Jake’s shorts completely. The naga’s tail literally lifted him out of the puddle of fabric on the jungle floor.

“Now that looks excited,” Hal commented, his hand gripping Jake’s cock for a quick stroke, wringing a cry out of him. “Tell me, what will it take to satisfy you?”

Hal’s still-rippling eyes and broad smile filled Jake’s vision. “Fuh… Fuck me…”

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask that.”

The naga leaned Jake back again, his tail slipping between Jake’s legs. Then it slid to one side, lifting and supporting one leg while the other hung down, toes nearly brushing the earth. Jake felt half-cradled and half-unbalanced at the same time, like he kept expecting to fall over but something held him steady. The tip of Hal’s tail in particular helped brace his neck so he could watch as Hal drew closer, pulling his hips close to Jake’s. He could feel something firm, cylinder-shaped, between his cheeks. He had a sexual history robust enough to know that was a _cock_.

“Fuuuhck,” Jake groaned again, trying to stutter his hips again.

“If you keep doing that, I’ll revoke your independent movement privileges,” Hal cautioned, but he had a tease in his voice that made Jake shiver with anticipation.

Hal reached between them. Jake had no idea where Hal’s dick had even come from, but all he really cared about was how badly he wanted it. The press of the tip against his ass drew another moan of need out of him, getting louder as Hal pushed in. As it entered him, Jake could feel the differences between a human cock and whatever Hal had—tapered at the tip, thickening to the bottom—and he craved more.

Hal’s thrusts were slow, deep, smooth. “Look at you…” He sounded less composed now. “Look at _me._ Right in the eyes, with all you have…”

Jake obeyed, like looking into Hal’s eyes would let him surrender the last dregs of himself to this glorious, incredible, sensual monster who had him wrapped up like a present. Hal’s thrusts felt incredible, but after so much teasing, so much time spent reducing his entire world to bodily hedonism, Jake wanted more.

It took nearly all the energy he possessed. With a swing of his free leg, Jake tried to wrap it around Hal’s waist, like an anchor to draw him closer. When his leg made contact with Hal’s side, the naga flinched and swatted it away—so there went Jake’s chance.

Hal seemed disoriented for a moment, but then relaxed. “I get it… I know you want more, Jake, but I told you that you’d lose your movement privileges if you don’t do exactly what I say. And that includes not doing things I don’t say.”

Logic eluded him, but Jake understood Hal was displeased with him again. He felt his lips try and form words to communicate his regret and what he intended to do to make it up to him. What came out was aimless babbling.

“I get it, your brain is melted. I am significantly to blame for that development. How about this.” Hal reached out to touch Jake’s chin, his claws again scratching on the sensitive underside of his jaw, and held his eyes. “You need to relax. Lose all tension in your body, including the tension you didn’t know you had. We’ll count it out again, when you hit one. I’ll start with five.”

On instinct, Jake answered, “Four.”

“Relax. Three.”

“Two…”

“Fully relax. One.”

Hal’s coils tightened as Jake went limp, a sleep-like absence of stress taking hold of his body. A moment later, Hal pulled his cock out of Jake, leaving an empty ache behind him that Jake had no power to protest. Then, he started to move more of his tail. The loop around his leg slithered lower, closer to his knee, before separating from his skin. Hal took a few seconds to focus on his own movement until Jake felt more scales touch his other leg, adding one loop, and then another. The only part of Jake’s body he could still move was his ankles.

“That’s better, Jake. Isn’t that better?” Hal told him.

“Yeah,” Jake said dumbly. All he really understood was that Hal thought it was better, so he agreed.

“Now, where were we…”

Hal pressed forward again, rubbing his cock between Jake’s legs until it pressed inside him again, and Jake felt whole. Maybe it wasn’t as rough or as fast as he wanted, but he knew better than to defy Hal now, and he accepted it was his role to be Hal’s doll, used for his enjoyment.

“Perfect,” Hal whispered, his rhythm starting up again. “Just perfect, Jake, so good…”

He felt perfect. He felt good. He felt Hal’s cock spread him, and all he could do was groan and stare. He felt the coils getting tighter around him, a pressure on his legs, around his arms, atop his chest. The tension sharpened each sensation, the push and drag of Hal’s cock feeling more intense. An undercurrent of _danger_ emerged in his blood as a contrast to the peace and trust that had enveloped his brain, and Jake didn’t even have space to shiver in Hal’s coils.

Hal’s eyes slid shut for a moment, savoring something, before he leered at Jake. “ _Yesssss_ , like that… you good, good boy…”

Like a wrench on a knot, the tension increased in small pulses. At the moment Jake assumed he was wrapped as tightly as he could be, Hal’s tails pulled tighter. And… _tighter_ … and the tip of his tail around his neck started to squeeze too… and he could barely breathe…

He had never felt so much at once: so much pleasure, so much panic, so much peace. Was this what a freefall skydive felt like? A feeling so exhilarating but so strange he couldn’t help but fear it? And the whole time, Hal’s voice and gaze whispered that in spite of all evidence to the contrary, Jake was safe to enjoy this. He had a net under his tightrope walk, which meant he was safe to _dance_ on that hair-thin wire.

All of this at the hands of a monster.

Jake’s peak hit him by complete surprise. The tension, the fullness, the restraint, the glowing and shifting red gaze all pushed him to a euphoric crest that he couldn’t suppress. Hal forced Jake’s hips still as his cock twitched and came on his lower stomach and Hal’s coils. The shocks spread through his body, and all Jake could do to try and physically process the feeling was curl his toes. Nothing in his life had ever felt so intense, and now…

“Not finished with you,” Hal whispered to him. “You’re staying… ‘til I’m satisfied…”

Jake couldn’t move his head enough to nod, but he kept his gaze on Hal’s face and let his eyes go wide as they could, drinking him in as Hal’s pace increased. Like he had abandoned all concern for Jake’s pleasure, Hal shoved into Jake, wilder and harder than before, taking what he wanted from his entranced toy. It ached and burned and, still flooded as he was with euphoria, Jake couldn’t help but love it.

It took minutes—or months?—but Hal finally stiffened, buried deep in Jake’s body, and he felt something warm and viscous fill him inside. Then Hal pulled back, out of Jake, and the coils around him started to melt like wax in the summer. Still wrapped in the naga’s tail, Jake felt his toes brush the ground, and he kept sinking until he was laid out with his body still tangled in Hal’s coils. He ached in so many ways, comfortable and rough all at once, and had no energy to do anything about it. If he spent the rest of his life lying naked in the middle of the forest, he’d be fine with that.

Luckily, someone had other ideas.

 

* * *

 

“Just listen to my voice. I’m happy with our first meeting here, and I want to have more like it. I know you want this bliss again and again, and I’ll happily give it to you. You just have to obey me first. Do you understand, Jake?

“Good. The first step, is I want you to imagine a box in your mind. You’re going to take everything that has happened to you this afternoon, from the moment you heard my voice to the moment you arrive home, and put it in that box. When you shut that box, you’ll forget any of it happened. The blank space won’t bother you. It’s unimportant. Besides, the memories aren’t gone, just locked up. You’re not missing anything.

“The next thing I want from you is, you’ll go back to your house. You’ll clean yourself up and put your clothes back on, with nothing out of place. Maybe hang the thigh-strap… thing… in a deep closet where you won’t think about it for a while. Everything will be normal in your house when Husband Dirk shows up.

“Now, the last thing concerns that very same Husband Dirk. When he arrives, you’re going to feel suddenly consumed by a memory of the sexiest thing you two have done together, a time when you wanted his body more than anything in the world. You’ll brush off any questions he has about what you’ve been doing for the last few hours in favor of jumping his fucking bones.

“Perfect. We’re going to have a good thing going here, Jake.”


End file.
